A sweeping WWII novel about the secrets we keep from the ones we love, and a couple tested again and again by distance, sacrifice, and a woman's ambition to fulfill her own dreams
Alec and June meet in a small English town in 1927 when they are children. Alec has lost his parents in India to cholera; he's a dreamy, thoughtful child who maps the stars and invents wild stories. June is a gifted young mathematician, memorizing train timetables and studying equations. They grow close, and their love feels inevitable, until war separates them. Alec becomes an RAF pilot; June, a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, which means keeping the important work she does a secret from Alec forever. Though they're separated for years at time, they share the certainty that their love will endure.
But when they're reunited after the war, they return deeply changed by their experiences, each with different expectations and hopes for the future. The couple must decide how much of themselves to reveal to the one they love, which dreams can be sacrificed, and which secrets are too big to bear alone.
A poignant, heart-wrenching novel that asks readers to think deeply about the decisions and deceptions--small and large--that make a life and a love worth having.
